Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Table of cases
- Table of treaties and other instruments
- Abbreviations
- Part 1 Setting the scene: Theoretical perspectives on international law in the ICRC Study
- Part 2 The status of conflict and combatants: The ICRC Study
- Part 3 Commentary on selected Rules from the ICRC Study
- 6 The law of targeting
- 7 Protected persons and objects
- 8 Natural environment
- 9 Specific methods of warfare
- 10 Weapons, means and methods of warfare
- 11 Fundamental guarantees
- 12 Status and treatment of prisoners of war and other persons deprived of their liberty
- 13 Displacement and displaced persons
- 14 Implementation and compliance
- 15 War crimes
- Part 4 Conclusions
- Index
14 - Implementation and compliance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Table of cases
- Table of treaties and other instruments
- Abbreviations
- Part 1 Setting the scene: Theoretical perspectives on international law in the ICRC Study
- Part 2 The status of conflict and combatants: The ICRC Study
- Part 3 Commentary on selected Rules from the ICRC Study
- 6 The law of targeting
- 7 Protected persons and objects
- 8 Natural environment
- 9 Specific methods of warfare
- 10 Weapons, means and methods of warfare
- 11 Fundamental guarantees
- 12 Status and treatment of prisoners of war and other persons deprived of their liberty
- 13 Displacement and displaced persons
- 14 Implementation and compliance
- 15 War crimes
- Part 4 Conclusions
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Of all the topics in international humanitarian law, arguably none is of more importance than securing compliance with the law's provisions and enforcing the law. Given that armed conflict by its very nature occasions violence, destruction and death, all too often to innocent people, there is little point in having an elaborate system of detailed rules for the conduct of hostilities and the protection of victims in war if there is no corresponding effective system for securing compliance and enforcing those rules. It is all very well having a doctrine of individual criminal responsibility for violations of humanitarian law but criminal proceedings by definition may be brought only after the crime has been committed and the damage done. While war crimes trials are undoubtedly considered more interesting and newsworthy by the media and the public at large, it cannot be doubted that adequate prevention – the task primarily of States, acting through military command hierarchies – is in many respects even more essential to a credible system of legal rules.
Thus, compliance with and enforcement of international humanitarian law at the State level of civil (as opposed to criminal) responsibility, obligations to disseminate the legal rules and incorporate them in domestic legal systems, and ensuring that armed forces are adequately instructed in their content, are crucial. By attaining these objectives, States can encourage the observance of the law in armed conflict and ensure that there is a workable system for obtaining enforcement.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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